Need help vs CSM

Hey guys, Im pretty new to DE and Im struggling vs my friends chaos, I think the main part of the problem is I get threat priority wrong (lack of terrain is a big issue too).
My friends list is something like 1500pts


Sorcerer lvl3?

20(ish) nurgle cultists hvy stubbers
20(ish) nurgle cultists hvy stubbers
10 csm 2 plasma guns, rhino

10 bikers (khorne maybe)
3 nurgle spawn

havocs, auto cannons
defiler
defiler

aegis quad gun


The aegis, sorcerer and cultists sit at the back spread out maybe covering objectives. the sorcerer a few times has had a power that grants stealth, shrouded to a unit I forget the lore but he has cast that on a defiler.
The list Im thinking of taking is


Succubus venom blade

9 Wracks liquifier, raider Dissi
10 wracks 2 liquifier, raider DL

5 kabalites, blaster, venom, 2 cannons
5 kabalites, blaster, venom, 2 cannons
5 kabalites, blaster, venom, 2 cannons
5 kabalites, blaster, venom, 2 cannons
5 kabalites, blaster, venom, 2 cannons

2 Beast masters 1VB, 5 khymerae, 2 razorwing flocks

cronos, vortex
ravager, NS
ravager, NS


succubus to go with wracks, 1st turn ravagers/raider to kill a defiler, venoms to kill bikes/spawn.. not used beasts before, and this is my 1st use of venoms im kinda feeling the cronos is out of place and too slow but its a distraction for him? same with beasts?

any help would be appreciated, thanks for reading
Rahl

Turn 1 you need to kill the quad gun (easy with venoms) and put down at least one defiler. Your right in that the chronos feels out of place... I personally would go another Ravager. After that, the bikes and spawn both need to die. Both are fast but it won't be till turn 2-3 when they get to you. Remember to keep them at arms length while you stop the defilers. Use your wracks to kill the cultists, liquifiers will make short work of them in cover and 2 poisoned ccw should smash face with the rest

Thanks for the tips, Im not gaming till next week but might post a report up

I partially disagree on priority.
The defilers do need to go and go quick. I would put your ravagers to trying to take out one of those. Just do damage though and move on. You don't have to kill it.

The bikers are what I would put my venoms on from the get-go. The splinter cannons would treat the bikers the same as they would a regular csm due to poison essentially nerfing the added toughness that the bikers have. The bikers are the only thing that can match your speed. Taking them out will give you a better speed advantage.

Wracks kind of suck as an Elite choice, but are good troop choices. Basically, there are better elite choices.

Quad gun is not a "high" priority because it's at worst just a couple of twin-linked autocannons.

I would say Lances first on Defilers
Venoms on bikes

For spawn that come up, I would actually dump my splinter rifles from Venoms into them first and see how they hold up. If you can finish them off, do it because they move so quick.

After that it would be Quad then Havocs.

Couple notes on your army composition.

If you keep the Cronos, use it to intercept the spawn. But I would drop it altogether.

Don't see the benefit of the succubus here. I would just use a haemonculus.

The Raiders I would keep as Dark Lances.

It should only take 1-2 venoms to knock out the quad gun and its one if the few reliable long range weapons the list sports. Putting it down straight away is easy and very beneficial. On the defilers, you can't just damage and move on as they are daemon engines with all the associated bonuses like regaining hull points. Put them down in 1 go

Good Points. I was thinking something more permanent on the defiler though like a weapon destroyed or immobilised. Probably could have written that to make myself more clear.

The Bikers would take a few turns to whittle down and immediate gratification from knocking out the quad gun would be beneficial.

That biker squad could be multi-assaulting venoms turn 2 though and could potentially glance a couple to death in 1 assault phase. They have the speed to keep up if you move away.

Well when I play against CSM, as I do quite often my target priority is like this:
Dark Light weapons:
1. Defiler
2. Any other veichle
3. Obligirators if still alive

Splinter weapons:
1. Havocs
2. Obligirators
3. The rest of his crap.

After this he should be dead really.

I'm yet to have trouble against CSM, might be due to your lack fo Dark light weaponary... I bet he is just targeting your Ravagers and you are kinda skrewd right? Trueborns/Reaver Jetbikes or something els that he needs to target would be nice, and drop Cronos for another Ravager.

He now got 2 main targets to take out, not to hard with Havocs, and 2 Defilers if he gets to start.